Strangers yet!

Strangers yet!
After strife for common ends,
After title of " old friends,"
After passions fierce and tender,
After cheerful self-surrender,
Hearts may beat and eyes be met,
And the souls be strangers yet.

Strangers yet!
Oh! the bitter thought to scan
All the loneliness of man: —
Nature, by magnetic laws,
Circle unto circle draws,
But they only touch when met,
Never mingle — strangers yet,

Strangers yet!
Will it evermore be thus —
Spirits still impervious?
Shall we never fairly stand
Soul to soul as hand to hand?
Are the bounds eternal set
To retain us — strangers yet?

Strangers yet!
Tell not Love it must aspire
Unto something other — higher:
God Himself were loved the best
Were our sympathies at rest,
Rest above the strain and fret
Of the world of — strangers yet!

Strangers yet!